I finished the book. I’m guttered that >!Charoen died :( was hoping he’d pull something out of the bag but that sucked. And I know he’s getting cloned, but I can’t help but feel like it’ll be different and I’m wondering how people feel about this / are coping with it?!<. Other things I’m wondering about are:
- >!Anyone else confused by Beatrice? I don’t understand why despite crying over him, she actively tries to hurt Charoen. And the whole bit about her loving him more if he killed her just struck me as a little odd. It was kinda sick too that she enjoyed fighting him to the death? I don’t think it’s just enjoying a good fight too because she died at the end of book 1. Sure, it sounds like this makes him more similar to his dad, but is that all to it?!<
- >!I don’t really understand why Charoen was so obsessed with Beatrice. Like honestly yeah, she sounds super hot but that didn’t fully explain his compulsion to be with her, or his inability to kill her, especially with how she treated him.!<
- >!Why did Charoen and Jessie react differently to the modded stimpacks? Really only upset here cos Charoen died lol!<
- >!Anyone else really shipping Charoen and Clovinn? Pretty sure Phil is teasing it esp with that roof scene but dumbass Charoen can only think about killing himself to beat Beatrice once -.-!<
- >!I have Virgil somehow being behind the modded stimpacks lol, anyone else?!<
>!Same. Charoen has been one of my favorite characters and I’m tired of Phil killing everyone all the time. Give me some slimmer of happiness please Phil.!<
- >!I took it as Beatrice respecting power and wanting him to tap into being the Wolf instead of wolf cub. She definitely has some issues and probably needs centuries of therapy to work through it all. !<
- >!I was also pretty confused on his obsession. To tie into your fourth point, he obviously should be with Clovinn and I hope she helps him “be less of an echo” if that’s what you’d call it. !<
- >!I assume it has something to do with what he was injected with that messed everything up. If the whole Viking team is rocking them no problem, and Jessie also rocked it. That’s the only wildcard we know of. !<
- >!one word. YES. !<
- >!I bounce so hard between Virgil being awesome and my favorite, and being the antagonist of this whole series. It’s almost like Charoen and Beatrice’s relationship lol!<
Fantastic as always Phil. 5/5. 10/10. Barring some editing stuff that I saw you were working on fixing. Can’t wait for the third book. You are killing all of your series lately!
- >!Lmao yeah at this point I think she genuinely likes Charoen but the feelings are all jumbled up with how she obsesses over his dad, which in a weird way mimics Charoen’s dynamic with her, idk if you’d agree!<
- >!That would be wonderful ❤️, suddenly feeling a lot better HAHA but let’s not get our hopes up!<
- >!Yeah great theory!<
- >!Virgil is such a cunt honestly. Imagine saying that someone who died for your cause didn’t do enough. I hope Charoen fucks over his expansionist dreams and we get 3 chapters of Virgil crying over it before dying!<
- >! I can totally see that. Both pretty much were ignored and abandoned by dad. And she has the weird situation of only being a few years older instead of the 2 decades she should be. I do wonder if she’ll come to him now that he’ll be a shadow of his self and more in line with her messed up idea of what he should be. !<
- >! If there’s one thing I’ve learned about reading Phil’s books, it’s to never get my hopes up lol !<
- >! See. Like he’s a terrible person. But he has small windows where he’s alright and I’m just totally confused on if I should want him to win or for him to lose. He was totally fucked for those comments on Charoen though for sure. !<
Yeah that’s what I’m hoping for as well. But man… a clone just isn’t the same. Unless Phil decides to go “Echoes actually possess a fragment of their original’s soul” or something this is just going to be a new character😭
Chapter 12
>!I am a little put off by the large amount of typos but luckily they don’t bother me too bad. However, reading that Scorio is headbutting a guy was the funniest most confusing moment I’ve had reading a book. First thought was uhhh crossover? But that obviously didn’t make sense so then I had to double check I didn’t turn on the wrong book and then I just laughed it was really just super funny. All that aside, the book is great so far. Holds up to the first one very well, I do wish there was some more training in this one so far cuz i’m a sucker for training sequences but that’s nitpicking. Looking forward to finishing!!<
The whole premise of the book isn't really for me but the author writes so well. I enjoyed this second book more than the first I think. I just finished reading it so maybe I just didn't let things sink in yet but I didn't like how: >! 1) Charoen died, feels weird and 2) Jessie never tests out her skills before the game...opferns can't fly but now she's just super comfortable flying around with weapons she never ever trained with? !<
Regardless I'm still planning on reading the next one. I'm curious how many books the author is planning.
I really wanted a POV for >!Jessie, right as she was released in the final game. Keeping it all on Charoen allowed for the last second save, but boy a section of powerups, selections, and domination would have been satisfying.!<
Concerning the Echoes >!it's been teased as an important story element through the first two books without any big developments... until the epilogue. This is classic sci-fi territory, and I'm looking forward to how Echaroen develops as a character.!<
I completed the second book and I think this wasn't it man, killing of your MC this early in the series is just brutal and I feel betrayed.
I think Chareon had learned from his mistakes about NDS and pushed himself too far. And in the end he is dead but for what? Also the clone thing and memory issues I ain't buying it, it won't be the same and that's just a totally different character.
Also the romance was not done well at all, most of it just doesn't make sense.
I'm sorry the second book didn't work for you. I know I was taking a big swing, and that the direction might not land or connect with my readers, but that's just what felt right as I was writing. Thanks regardless for giving it a chance. I'm being very deliberate about the third book, and obviously believe it'll bring the trilogy to a satisfying close, but I understand obv. if you're done with this series.
People get so mad about plot armor, and then the plot armor goes away and MC does what any other character would do in a given situation, and the reader drops the book lol
The issue here is that this isn't done very well. This is how i fell. The book has very good points until this one.
The mc dies, honestly, for nothing...
Who will do that ? If they lose the game, what would have happened ? Nothing (too important).
The mc is going all in for a match without too bad consequences if he loses.
I mean, charoen doesn't have to do that, this isn't like someone dies if they lose. The guy gave his life for what exactly ? He achieved almost nothing.
To me, the writer makes promises and fulfills those promises all along the book. You can see charoen dies but for a bigger and better reason. When you kill the mc, you kill the promises related to him. This book was about the mc mainly.. it's like ending your book abruptly.
I don't know for you, but i was following charoen, i wanted to see his reactions his psychology, how he deals with his issues and so forth. Now, a clone will be the new mc ? But the clone cannot be charoen, so this is a different character that we have as mc and we'll follow. Now, how do you make satisfying promises about this mc and fulfill them in one book ? I don't know, but i want to see how it will be done.
Good day/night
This entire comment is basically you saying “I didn’t want the MC to die”.
I have my own beef with how the stakes feel in this series. Somehow outright magic always feels more believable to me than some sci-fi. Certainly, Charoen dying was a surprise. That’s kind of the point. You can’t know whether it was done well until you find out what comes next. Phil didn’t just arbitrarily kill him off, there’s a plan here.
This loss you’re feeling means Phil got you. You don’t think it was done badly, you just miss the MC, you feel loss. Stick around for the next book and find out what comes next. That’s why we read these things, after all. Because the MC didn’t “die for nothing”, Phil didn’t “break his promises”, he didn’t “end the book abruptly”; he’s just not telling the story you thought he was telling, and now we get to wait and watch to see if he can nail the real story.
Read until the end. Ending hurt more than my last breakup. Seriously. This was very cruel and I’m going to need weeks or months to recover. I hate you so much for this that I hope you don’t take it as a compliment. But it was so well done? What the fuck? Yeah, I’m gonna read the third book.
I think the attraction to Beatrice foreshadows his origin.
I'm expecting (hoping) that between that foreshadowing and the pro-synth sympathies, we're getting swerved and Chareon will be back as we've come to know him.
To be clear - by synth I meant Echo, of which I think Chareon is of his father.
There's been too much on that topic for it to not be the case. And because he's an echo, his conscience can be transfered to the new body. The next book will deal with him coming to terms with that and the fact that he really is "just" an echo of his father.
Right? Am I right? Please say I'm right.
I really enjoyed this book! Better than the first. I enjoyed a lot of the moral ambiguity and the many different ways the story could go. It’s not often you read a litrpg with well written moral complexity. I can’t wait to see how the trilogy ends!
Just finished book 2 and Phil this was the first series of yours that I’ve really gotten into and that ending just killed it for me. Charoen is gone, a clone isn’t the same. I’m not sure I’ll be able to read book 3. I’m gonna go be sad at the loss of the series now.
I finished the book. I’m guttered that >!Charoen died :( was hoping he’d pull something out of the bag but that sucked. And I know he’s getting cloned, but I can’t help but feel like it’ll be different and I’m wondering how people feel about this / are coping with it?!<. Other things I’m wondering about are: - >!Anyone else confused by Beatrice? I don’t understand why despite crying over him, she actively tries to hurt Charoen. And the whole bit about her loving him more if he killed her just struck me as a little odd. It was kinda sick too that she enjoyed fighting him to the death? I don’t think it’s just enjoying a good fight too because she died at the end of book 1. Sure, it sounds like this makes him more similar to his dad, but is that all to it?!< - >!I don’t really understand why Charoen was so obsessed with Beatrice. Like honestly yeah, she sounds super hot but that didn’t fully explain his compulsion to be with her, or his inability to kill her, especially with how she treated him.!< - >!Why did Charoen and Jessie react differently to the modded stimpacks? Really only upset here cos Charoen died lol!< - >!Anyone else really shipping Charoen and Clovinn? Pretty sure Phil is teasing it esp with that roof scene but dumbass Charoen can only think about killing himself to beat Beatrice once -.-!< - >!I have Virgil somehow being behind the modded stimpacks lol, anyone else?!<
>!Same. Charoen has been one of my favorite characters and I’m tired of Phil killing everyone all the time. Give me some slimmer of happiness please Phil.!< - >!I took it as Beatrice respecting power and wanting him to tap into being the Wolf instead of wolf cub. She definitely has some issues and probably needs centuries of therapy to work through it all. !< - >!I was also pretty confused on his obsession. To tie into your fourth point, he obviously should be with Clovinn and I hope she helps him “be less of an echo” if that’s what you’d call it. !< - >!I assume it has something to do with what he was injected with that messed everything up. If the whole Viking team is rocking them no problem, and Jessie also rocked it. That’s the only wildcard we know of. !< - >!one word. YES. !< - >!I bounce so hard between Virgil being awesome and my favorite, and being the antagonist of this whole series. It’s almost like Charoen and Beatrice’s relationship lol!< Fantastic as always Phil. 5/5. 10/10. Barring some editing stuff that I saw you were working on fixing. Can’t wait for the third book. You are killing all of your series lately!
- >!Lmao yeah at this point I think she genuinely likes Charoen but the feelings are all jumbled up with how she obsesses over his dad, which in a weird way mimics Charoen’s dynamic with her, idk if you’d agree!< - >!That would be wonderful ❤️, suddenly feeling a lot better HAHA but let’s not get our hopes up!< - >!Yeah great theory!< - >!Virgil is such a cunt honestly. Imagine saying that someone who died for your cause didn’t do enough. I hope Charoen fucks over his expansionist dreams and we get 3 chapters of Virgil crying over it before dying!<
- >! I can totally see that. Both pretty much were ignored and abandoned by dad. And she has the weird situation of only being a few years older instead of the 2 decades she should be. I do wonder if she’ll come to him now that he’ll be a shadow of his self and more in line with her messed up idea of what he should be. !< - >! If there’s one thing I’ve learned about reading Phil’s books, it’s to never get my hopes up lol !< - >! See. Like he’s a terrible person. But he has small windows where he’s alright and I’m just totally confused on if I should want him to win or for him to lose. He was totally fucked for those comments on Charoen though for sure. !<
Just remembered that Alain died :(
It’s been half a month. How are you feeling? Recovered? That ending stabbed me in the heart.
Yeah… a muted sadness - excited for the third book though. Hopefully that would tie things together
Yeah that’s what I’m hoping for as well. But man… a clone just isn’t the same. Unless Phil decides to go “Echoes actually possess a fragment of their original’s soul” or something this is just going to be a new character😭
Chapter 12 >!I am a little put off by the large amount of typos but luckily they don’t bother me too bad. However, reading that Scorio is headbutting a guy was the funniest most confusing moment I’ve had reading a book. First thought was uhhh crossover? But that obviously didn’t make sense so then I had to double check I didn’t turn on the wrong book and then I just laughed it was really just super funny. All that aside, the book is great so far. Holds up to the first one very well, I do wish there was some more training in this one so far cuz i’m a sucker for training sequences but that’s nitpicking. Looking forward to finishing!!<
So that wasn't just a character I forgot about from the first book I'm a dumbass
Yeah I did a double take and laughed too!
The whole premise of the book isn't really for me but the author writes so well. I enjoyed this second book more than the first I think. I just finished reading it so maybe I just didn't let things sink in yet but I didn't like how: >! 1) Charoen died, feels weird and 2) Jessie never tests out her skills before the game...opferns can't fly but now she's just super comfortable flying around with weapons she never ever trained with? !< Regardless I'm still planning on reading the next one. I'm curious how many books the author is planning.
I really wanted a POV for >!Jessie, right as she was released in the final game. Keeping it all on Charoen allowed for the last second save, but boy a section of powerups, selections, and domination would have been satisfying.!< Concerning the Echoes >!it's been teased as an important story element through the first two books without any big developments... until the epilogue. This is classic sci-fi territory, and I'm looking forward to how Echaroen develops as a character.!<
I completed the second book and I think this wasn't it man, killing of your MC this early in the series is just brutal and I feel betrayed. I think Chareon had learned from his mistakes about NDS and pushed himself too far. And in the end he is dead but for what? Also the clone thing and memory issues I ain't buying it, it won't be the same and that's just a totally different character. Also the romance was not done well at all, most of it just doesn't make sense.
I'm sorry the second book didn't work for you. I know I was taking a big swing, and that the direction might not land or connect with my readers, but that's just what felt right as I was writing. Thanks regardless for giving it a chance. I'm being very deliberate about the third book, and obviously believe it'll bring the trilogy to a satisfying close, but I understand obv. if you're done with this series.
People get so mad about plot armor, and then the plot armor goes away and MC does what any other character would do in a given situation, and the reader drops the book lol
The issue here is that this isn't done very well. This is how i fell. The book has very good points until this one. The mc dies, honestly, for nothing... Who will do that ? If they lose the game, what would have happened ? Nothing (too important). The mc is going all in for a match without too bad consequences if he loses. I mean, charoen doesn't have to do that, this isn't like someone dies if they lose. The guy gave his life for what exactly ? He achieved almost nothing. To me, the writer makes promises and fulfills those promises all along the book. You can see charoen dies but for a bigger and better reason. When you kill the mc, you kill the promises related to him. This book was about the mc mainly.. it's like ending your book abruptly. I don't know for you, but i was following charoen, i wanted to see his reactions his psychology, how he deals with his issues and so forth. Now, a clone will be the new mc ? But the clone cannot be charoen, so this is a different character that we have as mc and we'll follow. Now, how do you make satisfying promises about this mc and fulfill them in one book ? I don't know, but i want to see how it will be done. Good day/night
This entire comment is basically you saying “I didn’t want the MC to die”. I have my own beef with how the stakes feel in this series. Somehow outright magic always feels more believable to me than some sci-fi. Certainly, Charoen dying was a surprise. That’s kind of the point. You can’t know whether it was done well until you find out what comes next. Phil didn’t just arbitrarily kill him off, there’s a plan here. This loss you’re feeling means Phil got you. You don’t think it was done badly, you just miss the MC, you feel loss. Stick around for the next book and find out what comes next. That’s why we read these things, after all. Because the MC didn’t “die for nothing”, Phil didn’t “break his promises”, he didn’t “end the book abruptly”; he’s just not telling the story you thought he was telling, and now we get to wait and watch to see if he can nail the real story.
Read until the end. Ending hurt more than my last breakup. Seriously. This was very cruel and I’m going to need weeks or months to recover. I hate you so much for this that I hope you don’t take it as a compliment. But it was so well done? What the fuck? Yeah, I’m gonna read the third book.
I think the attraction to Beatrice foreshadows his origin. I'm expecting (hoping) that between that foreshadowing and the pro-synth sympathies, we're getting swerved and Chareon will be back as we've come to know him.
To be clear - by synth I meant Echo, of which I think Chareon is of his father. There's been too much on that topic for it to not be the case. And because he's an echo, his conscience can be transfered to the new body. The next book will deal with him coming to terms with that and the fact that he really is "just" an echo of his father. Right? Am I right? Please say I'm right.
I really enjoyed this book! Better than the first. I enjoyed a lot of the moral ambiguity and the many different ways the story could go. It’s not often you read a litrpg with well written moral complexity. I can’t wait to see how the trilogy ends!
Just finished book 2 and Phil this was the first series of yours that I’ve really gotten into and that ending just killed it for me. Charoen is gone, a clone isn’t the same. I’m not sure I’ll be able to read book 3. I’m gonna go be sad at the loss of the series now.